Banner by bushtuckapenguin
Chapter Five:
Soulless
“You know,” Wisteria said as Hal tried to bring the survey instruments online, “this would be a thousand times easier if you were willing run these things on normal power.”
He stood up, thumped the monitor once, and it shimmered to life. “I’ve said it once, and I’ve said it again: dust-based power is a hindrance. We must move beyond it in order to advance!”
She rolled her eyes. “Atlas has been the center of technological progress and dust mining for almost a century. But I’m sure that’s just a coincidence.”
Hal sat down at the terminal and began typing in numbers. “Not the point and you know it! All these advancements rely on this fuel source, which, as far as we know, is finite. We are engaged in a potentially eternal fight for our survival; we cannot afford to have such reliance on such a fragile foundation!” He stopped typing as the computer began to process the data from the canister. “Besides, the less we rely on dust here, the more prepared we will be when the project necessitates us to abandon it. That reminds me, what news from the summit?”
Wisteria looked at her scroll. The relay station that Atlas had installed in the nearby village of Iapetus Point meant that they had a decent signal, even all the way out here. “The primary rails are almost complete. The mechanism will be ready soon. The payload, on the other hand… well, we need to figure out how to get the firing mechanism to function without dust. Otherwise, all of this was for nothing.” She nodded towards the computer. “How’s the side project?”
He sighed. “Not good. The readings aren’t picking up anything. No gas, no virus, no prokaryotic life, no traditional toxins or pathogens. The Spawnplague isn’t a traditional disease, that’s for sure.” He slid his chair over to the table where the canister rested. “But then we already knew that. The plague’s effects are unique, eating away at a person’s aura until their soul is obliterated. That much we can tell by measuring the aura of the victims. Whatever it is, it’s not purely physical.
“The truth is, we don’t know what could cause such a complete breakdown of someone’s aura. And we don’t know how or why the final transformation into grimmspawn occurs. I’m beginning to feel that the entire thing is hopeless.”
“Wait a minute.” Wisteria spoke up. “We measured the aura breakdown using tournament-style aura counters, right? They pick up fluctuations in someone’s aura. Like a sort of wave?”
“A psionic frequency generated as the aura is depleted or replenished, yes. But I don’t see how that’s relevant.”
She grinned. Eureka. “Resonance.”
“Sorry?” He looked completely lost. Typical. He’d run his mouth at a mile a minute, but as soon as someone else started talking he was out.
“Resonance! Like with sound! Certain frequencies can cause an object to shake itself apart...” Hal’s eyes lit up as he realized what she was saying.
“... in a fashion almost identical to how the aura reacts to the Spawnplague!” He grinned. “Do you have an aura counter on your scroll?”
She nodded, and handed it to him. He looked at it for a second, made a few adjustments, and then placed it in the vacuum chamber they had been using for testing his dustless laser devices. He then screwed the canister into the chamber, activated the seal, and released the canister’s contents.
The scroll went crazy. The bar that was supposed to measure aura started fluctuating up and down, speeding up and then slowing down seemingly at random. Hal looked at her, grinning from ear to ear. “It works! Itworksitworksitworks! You’re a genius!”
“Well, obviously. So, does this mean we can make a cure?”
His smiled faded. “Not… not exactly. We’re immeasurably closer, but there are some things we just don’t have the capability to do! If we had some sort of device that could produce these kind of psychic ‘vibrations’, then maybe, but no such device exists… I don’t know what we do now.”
Tenebra woke up an hour and a half before she had meant to. The others, even Argo, were all asleep as she quietly stood up and walked out to the balcony. Atlas was beautiful at night. The waning moon reflected off of the snowcapped mountains, while the city’s lights shone below. Even at night, the city was busy, with cars and airships darting to and fro, looking like tiny fireflies from her towering perch. She’d visited Atlas twice previously, first before she had met Rowan, back when she was on her own. She hadn’t stayed the night that time, heading east as soon as she could. The second time had been three years after she and Rowan had met, when she had undergone the experimental treatment that had turned her skin grey and enhanced her semblance.
A noise behind her startled her back to the present. She turned to see Colleen, shivering in the cold, gazing at the sky. “S-s-sorry. I c-couldn’t sleep.” She pointed upwards. “It’s watching us.”
“What?” Ten followed her gaze. All that was above them were the stars. “There’s nothing there.”
“Not yet. Not yet. But it will be.” Of course, Ten reminded herself, the girl was unstable. She sighed, and there was a long moment of silence.
“What does it feel like? When you become that thing?”
“It’s… It’s horrible. I’m locked in my mind. Watching… it destroy everything. Watching it hurt people.“ Her right hand started shaking. ”Just watching. Can’t do a thing.”
Ten sighed. “Sounds like bliss. Not having to worry about your actions? Having no responsibility? I’d kill for that. I guess you’re a better person than me.” She chuckled. “The psychotic killing machine has stronger morals than me. Guess that should tell me something, huh?”
The girl was silent for a long time. “You’re scared.”
“What?”
“Of everything. The world. It hurt you, once, and now you keep yourself hidden, so you won’t feel that again.”
The words hit hard. She was right, perhaps. She was afraid. No, she told herself, not afraid, just sensible. The world was a nasty place, and you did what you had to in order to survive. She couldn’t open herself up; expose herself to the cruel whims of fate. She kept moving forward, paying no mind to those whom she passed along the way. It was the way of the world. And yet… Colleen was right, in a way. She knew what happened if you got too attached. You became vulnerable. She’d faltered enough already by bonding with Rowan. It was a weakness, and she knew it.
Colleen was shaking. Ten knew that being out in the cold was dangerous for her. “You should go back inside. It wouldn’t be good for any of us if you pass out from hypothermia.”
Later, at the appointed hour, Argo stood on a rooftop a few hundred yards from the compound. The target itself looked more like a military base than a research lab, since it was surrounded by a large concrete wall topped with barbed wire and had towers at each corner. Within, they could see several dozen AK-130 androids on patrol, along with a few larger models, most notably an AE-95 enforcer drone. A half-dozen automated turrets guarded the central building, where the device was being stored, each protected by a security guard.
“Alright, Will, we are in position,” Argo informed. “Do you have the location of our person of interest?”
“Got him in our sights. He’s headed home, sending you the coordinates right now.” A blip showed up on Argo’s map.
“Roger that. Rowan, Tenebra, you got it?”
The icy tones of Tenebra’s voice echoed through the radio. “We’ll get the bastard, don’t worry. Focus on doing your job.”
Rowan and Ten moved swiftly over the roofs into position. The white limousine carrying their target was moving quickly, but they had the advantage of being able to simply leap over intersections, instead of waiting for traffic lights. The car was headed to the high-class apartment building where Kale stayed while in Atlas. Ten pulled out her radio. “Do you have a room number for us, Sable?”
“1765. Third window to the right on the 17th floor, on the side facing you.”
“Rowan, get to the balcony, I’ll enter on the inside.”
He grinned. “Got it!” He darted over the roof, and took a running leap onto a low balcony. Using his semblance to enhance his jumps, he leapt up to another balcony, two floors above him. He jumped to the next, and continued until he reached the 17th floor. He then ran along the side of the building until he reached the room in question, and landed gracefully.
He waited for a few minutes, until a maid entered the room, turned on the lights, and walked over to unlock the door to the balcony. As she did so, her form shimmered and melted away, leaving Ten looking like her normal self.
Rowan stepped inside. “You know, I could have just picked the lock.”
“Too much risk, it could have tripped an alarm. Now hush. He’ll be here any minute.” She darted over to hide behind the door. Rowan rolled his eyes and ducked around a corner in the room. She always had to kill the fun option.
In about ten minutes, the door opened, and Kale walked in, setting down his briefcase and sitting down on his bed. As he did so, Ten closed the door, and Rowan stepped out from hiding.
It took Kale a second to notice them, but when he did he almost jumped out of his suit. He scrambled to a drawer and pulled out a pistol. “Who are you? What the hell are you doing here?”
Ten darted forwards and knocked the gun from his hand before he could react. Then she twisted his arm behind his back. “Hold still, this will just take a second.”
“Wait, what? What’s going on?” He tried in vain to break free from her hold, as her eyes began to glow.
A halo of light surrounded Kale and slowly flowed down his arm to hers, until it engulfed her is a glowing nimbus. The shimmering energy faded, and Ten’s features began to shift. All in all, the change took about fifteen seconds. When it was over, there were two Kales standing in the room.
“Alright, I’ve got it!” she called to Rowan. Now that she had fully copied Kale’s aura, they didn’t need him conscious anymore. Rowan nodded, and slammed the metal cap that covered the stump of his left hand straight into Kale’s face. The man crumpled to the floor.
“See? That was easy!” Rowan started rifling through Kale’s pockets as Ten tied his limbs and gagged him. He pulled out the man’s wallet. “Here’s his access card and ID.” He looked closer. “And two thousand lien! Score!”
“Really, Rowan?”
“What? This is a whole month’s rent right here!”
She rolled her eyes-or rather, Kale’s eyes. “We’re about to do a job that pays in the hundreds of millions, and you’re worried about a few thousand?”
“I’ll take whatever bonus I can get.”
“Let’s just get going, we don’t want to keep the others waiting.”
“Kale” arrived at the facility at 4:12 am, checked in, and walked inside. Getting in was easy. All Ten had to do was flash her ID badge, and answer any questions with “That’s classified.” It was a routine she had done before, though never on this scale. People tended not to question their superiors, especially not in Atlas.
She followed the path that she had been given into the communications hub. Due to the project’s secrecy, no personal electronic devices were allowed in. All signals going in and out of the facility were rerouted through the hub, which verified incoming signals and encrypted outgoing ones.It was an impressive feat of security.
It also made them vulnerable. If she could take control of the hub, it would make it all but impossible for the occupants to call the authorities.
The hub itself consisted of two rooms, separated by a metal wall with a large glass window allowing the operators in the smaller control room to view the main Comms Station. The main room was a large, semicircular area that resembles a smaller version of a CCT center, but with only three large terminals. At present, two of them were occupied, and a pair of operators sat in the control room. She cleared her throat.
“I’m going to need to send a message.” She spoke in Kale’s voice, high pitched, but filled with authority.
“Yes sir, what’s the scroll ID number?”
“DWA-24813.” There was a short pause as the operator typed in the number.
“All right, sir, enter your message at the vacant terminal, and we’ll make sure it reaches its destination.”
Ten sat at the terminal, and quickly typed in the code phrase: Stage one of production is complete. Requesting verification to proceed. Sable’s operatives had spent the last week and a half decoding the cipher used by the Atlas military for these transmissions. She hit Send. It would take maybe five minutes for things to get interesting. She nodded at the operator, stepped out of the room, and waited.
A few minutes later, the alarms began to sound.
“Alright, are you ready?” Argo called, as Colleen and Rowan moved into position. It had been thirteen minutes since Tenebra had entered the building. It seemed like everything was well.
SOON
Colleen looked out over the base. Androids everywhere. Turrets. People. Soon, all in ruins.
YES, IT WILL ALL BURN
But nobody would be hurt. They had promised. And they were… were… A word that I never knew. Not truly. But now, she was starting to understand. She… trusted them. Well, at least Rowan.
THEY WILL ABANDON US. THEY FEAR US. AS THEY SHOULD.
“We’re in position!” Rowan said. There was a long pause.
“Alright.” Argo took a deep breath. “Now.”
Colleen closed her eyes. I give in.
The pain as the metal cords unwound from her bones, ripping their way through her skin, was tremendous. She had never gotten used to it. The blades tore free of her body, steel mixing with blood as it reached the open air. But the worst pain came as her jaw split open, her mouth opening like a terrible gash, while her teeth warped and grinded and tore at her gums.
She surged forward like a tidal wave, striking the first squad of androids with terrible force. Blades whirled and spun, tearing their chassis apart. They fired round after round at her, but the bullets were either batted aside by the mechanical tentacles or simply deflected by her aura.
DIE AND DIE AND DIE!
A pair of guards drew their rifles and started firing. It saw them, and turned. No, She thought, don’t! Her pleas did nothing. A bladed metal appendage whipped out, with the intent of skewering the two men.
Suddenly, pain shot through her, as the tentacle rebounded off of a translucent blue screen.
PAIN! FEAR! HUNGER!
If she had retained control of her body, she would have gasped, as she felt the energy leaving her body. She was tired. Very tired. But it had worked. It turned its attention away from the men, towards another dozen androids running towards her. As she turned to face them, she saw Rowan dart in from the side, kicking one of the guards in the head. She didn’t see what happened next, as it was lost in a flurry of bullets and debris.
The androids fell in droves. More of them kept pouring out of the facility and were quickly destroyed. Her aura was wearing low. An android with a sword leapt onto her, stabbing at her abdomen several times before she swatted it away. A guard nearly hit her with a rocket. She turned towards him, but another force field kept her from reaching him.
Turrets rained bullets, android limbs flew through the air, alarms blared. Everything was out of focus. And then suddenly everything was thrown into sharp relief, as her aura failed. She could feel a huge pain in her side. As she turned to face the source of the attack, she saw that a huge hole had opened up in her belly. Blood was pouring everywhere.
The shot had come from another android, this one larger than the others, and skeletal in shape. As she turned, it fired another blast from its large cannons, blasting her right arm clean off. She ducked under the next shot as another tentacle erupted from where her arm had been. The metal segments of the appendage locked together, and flattened, creating a three-foot blade. She charged forwards, and sliced through the automaton’s torso. It staggered back and tried to bludgeon her with one of its guns. A tentacle intercepted the attack, wrapping around the weapon, and ripped it free from the android with a sickening sound.
As she did so, a flash of red darted past her, and Rowan was on top of the robot, stabbing its head repeatedly with his katar. It tried to knock him off, giving Colleen just the opening she needed. She leapt into the air, blade raised high. Rowan saw what she was doing and quickly propelled himself out of the way. She brought her blade arm down on the android’s head and sliced it in half vertically.
As the alarms began to sound, Ten drew Umber and Dolus and darted back towards the comms station. Before they could react, she struck each of the men at the terminals with an arrow and then broke through the glass to the operator’s control room. One of the operators drew a pistol, but she clubbed him in the head with the bow, and he went down. The other tried to make a run for it, but an arrow took him down as well. In about fifteen seconds, she had neutralized everyone in the room.
Now all she had to do was shut off the station, and calling for reinforcements would be impossible. Unfortunately, before she could do so, a guard who had apparently heard the commotion over the sound of the alarms rushed into the room. They drew their weapons at the same time, and the guard fired several times. She ducked under the bullets, dashed forward, and kicked him in the stomach. He tried to punch her, but she dodged out of the way and slashed at his arm. He tried to fire another shot at her, but she knocked his gun out of his hand and then elbowed him in the throat.
She drew back her bow, and a red arrow of dust formed, ready to fire. Instead, she grabbed it and swiftly stabbed the guard in the throat with it. He crumpled to the ground.
Wiping the blood off of her hands, Ten returned to the station. It wasn’t a familiar system to her, but most Atlas interfaces were based on the same basic model, so it only took her a couple of minutes to lock down the whole grid. Once it was finished, she ran out to join the others.
Argo watched the chaos unfold below him with a grim expression on his face. The android forces were almost completely destroyed. In theory, once they were dealt with, Colleen would return to her normal form. Wyatt’s notes had indicated that the bloodlust could only retain control when there were active threats in the area.
He heard a noise behind him, and turned to see Tenebra. “Everything go as planned?”
She nodded. “Had a small complication, but I took care of it.” Argo raised an eyebrow. “I said I took care of it. Do you want this job done or not?”
Argo turned back to the courtyard, where the last of the androids were being turned to scrap. Rowan had done his job admirably, knocking the guards unconscious and moving them out of the girl’s path. Now he was helping Collen take care of the automated forces.
As the last of the androids fell, however, something strange happened. Colleen stiffened, and screamed. “No! NO! He’s here!” The girl started to sob, and then collapsed.
He’s here. What does that mean… could it be? No, no, that’s not possible. Is it? Argo took a deep breath. It doesn’t matter. We have to go on with the mission. It won’t matter if we just complete the mission. “You and Rowan go and start working on the lock.” He told Tenebra. “I’ll help her.”
Rowan knelt in front of the huge metal door that blocked access to the inner vault. Reaching into his coat, he pulled out a device that appeared to contain all sorts of tools. He attached it to the stump of his left hand and got to work on the lock.
As he did so, Argo appeared from around the corner, supporting Colleen. She seemed only half-conscious, though her injuries appeared to be completely healed. Ten turned to him and raised an eyebrow. “What was that all about?”
“I haven’t the slightest idea.” He set the girl down. “Are you alright?”
Colleen blinked. “Something’s wrong. I don’t know… I don’t know what. It’s all wrong…”
Argo tried his best to smile. “Everything’s alright. We’re almost done with all of this.” His voice was trembling. Colleen’s outburst must have shaken him more than he wanted to let on.
“Argo, can I talk to you for a second?” Ten pulled him aside. “What’s up?”
“I’m fine.” His voice had calmed, but Ten could feel his fear. “Really.”
She rolled her eyes. “No. You’re not fine. Tell me. We can’t afford for you to break down at such a critical point in time.”
“’He’s here.’ Who was she talking about?” He was trying to retain his normal composure, but it was breaking down. Ten knew there was only one person that could make him react this way.
“You think it’s your father.”
“Who else? We haven’t seen a Hamadryad agent since we left Vale. Why? If he’s looking for me himself… Then this has gone beyond what we could handle. He’ll-”
Ten slapped him. “Of course it’s not him! I doubt that the kid even knows who he is!” She looked back at Colleen, slumped against the wall. “We can’t know what she was talking about until she wakes up, but your father is at the Bronze Mountains for the next week, unless you doubt Zmey’s intel.”
He took a deep breath and nodded. All at once, his customary stiff upper lip was back and he was Argo again. “Of course. But then who was she talking about?”
Who indeed? Colleen had many abilities, but as far as Tenebra knew, psychic powers were not among them. She recognized something which must have reminded her of someone. Someone she knew. Which narrowed it down considerably. “Arkham.”
“What?”
“Someone from Arkham. Must be. I can’t think of anyone else that she’d react that way towards.”
Rowan stood up, and grinned. “Ta dah!” The door slid open with a loud creaking noise.
The air was filled with a familiar scent. Rowan’s faunus senses, more acute than those of a human, picked it up almost instantly. “Uh, guys? Something’s not right here.”
“What the hell are you going on about?” Ten asked.
A murmur came from her left. “Blood,” Colleen said, in a soft voice. “It smells like blood.” Though she seemed weak, she picked herself up and stumbled to her feet. “And it smells like him.”
Argo looked at Ten, and then back to the girl. “Who? What are you talking about?”
“The thin man. He was there… When… When…” She started to shake, and tears welled in her eyes. “Stop it! No!” She grabbed her head. “No! Stop doing this!”
Rowan had seen what lurked beneath her skin. The horror that had destroyed that ormaster like it was made of paper, and had obliterated the droids outside. But now, all he could see was a girl, alone and terrified. Damn it. He couldn’t just stand there.
“Hey, calm down. It’s going to be alright.” He moved his arm under hers to keep her from collapsing. “Take deep breaths, kiddo. Everything will be fine.”
“I don’t want… I don’t want to go back!”
“We won’t let that happen. We’re your friends.”
She looked at him for a long, silent moment, and then nodded, though she was still trembling. Argo motioned for them to keep moving, and they started down the corridor towards the inner vault. As they proceeded, the smell of blood grew stronger.
Suddenly, a snarl pierced the silence, followed shortly by a scream. Ten’s weapons were in her hands in seconds. “Was that…?”
Argo nodded. “Grimm. Rowan, go ahead and check it out. If you run into trouble, return here. I don’t care what it is, I don’t care if you think you can deal with it yourself, I need you to report back as soon as possible. Do you understand?”
“Got it, dude. I’ll be right back.” He darted down the hallway and around the corner, crouching down to stay out of sight.
The “vault” was really a highly secure laboratory filled with all sorts of equipment. Everything was built around a center dais, upon which stood the device itself. It was all covered in blood. The scientists who had been working on the device had been torn apart, and standing over them were a pair of very large beowolves. But it was what was between the two grimm that was most shocking.
It was a man. Or at least, it looked like a man, tall and gaunt, in a lab coat. It wasn’t the uniform worn by the Plutonian scientists that were lying dead on the ground; it was a pale blue-green, and around the arm was a band that read Arkham Innovations. That wasn’t the surprising part, though. What was surprising was the fact that his skin was a pitch-black color, his eyes glowing red, and his hair as white as ivory. A grimmspawn, the twisted remains of someone who had succumbed to the Spawnplague, Rowan recognized. But this one was different. He had fought grimmspawn before, and they carried themselves in a feral gait, acting like drooling monsters without a real mind. But this one was scanning the room with a cold, intelligent look on his face.
Shit. This could be bad. Really, really bad. Rowan remembered that Argo had said to report back immediately if he encountered a problem. He tried to creep back to the hallway, to tell them what he’d seen, but as soon as he took a step, the grimmspawn spoke.
“Don’t think that I do not see you, boy.” It’s voice was cold, and it had an accent of some sort.
Without thinking he replied. “Boy? What the hell is that supposed to mean!?” Whoops. Damnit Rowan, when the soulless abomination addresses you, do not respond!
The creature smiled, and the beowolves turned towards him. In one quick motion, the grimmspawn leapt at him, swinging its staff straight at his head. The blow went straight through Rowan’s aura, which was already almost depleted from the fight with the security forces, and struck him soundly in the skull. He fell to the ground as the beowolves ran towards him, and everything went dark for a second.
When he came to, Tenebra was standing over him. Three of her. Huh, that was weird. “Wha?” he asked, struggling to form a sentence. “Why’re there so many of you?”
The Tens rolled their eyes. “Oh, just great. He’s got a concussion.”
“You’ve got a concussion!” Rowan retorted.
Ten looked over at Argo, who was retrieving his spear from the rapidly disintegrating corpse of a beowolf. “What do we do now? The police have probably found out by now, what the hell are supposed to do?”
Argo looked pensive. “We need to get out of here. Reconvene with Sable. Tell him what happened.”
Rowan sat up. “Wha? What happened?”
“That thing took it.” Argo replied. “It took the weapon.”